I love how Hiroshi completely freaked out. WHATEVER WILL I DO! A MAN IS TOUCHING ME! Uh huh. I think someone is just being a little insecure.

So lemme get this straight… since it’s a bad harvest for hassaku oranges this year, all the weirdos in Jouga are being “nice” to Hiroshi. If it weren’t for the oranges, pills, etc., Hiroshi probably would have been raped already. If anyone happens to act out, the dorky looking “Arthurs” kill them with scythes. Well, that’s one way to subvert the “main character is super popular” trope. But why Hiroshi? Why don’t they attach themselves to Mana or his dad? I guess we’ll find out later.

Worst anime? No way. It finally got interesting.

Baka to Test to Shokanju 03

The only thing funny about this show is how mad people get over gg’s less than literal translation. Like this gem:

It completely changes the connotations of everything said, and changes the characters’ personalities even. Damn it, it’s hard to enjoy the subs when half the things they’re saying it just made cruder as well. “Faggots and dykes”– oh come on, gg, who are you subbing for, 16 year old boys who still thinks those words are funny?

Excellent episode. Sucks for anyone who actually knows what the characters are saying though.

Or this:

gg is like the 4kids of fansubbing.

Omamori Himari 03

This anime is just so generic. Just read what Susan Napier has to say in “Carnival and Conservatism in Romantic Comedy:”

[Lum’s] determination and aggressive seem removed from the traditional image of the submissive female…. Most importantly, her destabilizing powers are iconic in a modern sense, not of a particular female type but rather of the overall unsettling effect of women’s increasing independence… the subtext has a threatening quality to it, suggesting that in the real world women are increasingly uncontrollable as well.

The inherent threat of Lum’s powers, as previously mentioned, is ultimately mitigated by the essentially traditional relationship she has with Ataru. Lum’s (women’s) destabilizing power is contained through her total commitment to her man, suggesting that, no matter how independent and aggressive she may become, she is still profoundly tied to a traditional male-female dynamic. The impressive powers that she possesses… would seem to make her superior to Ataru. However, her emotional subordination to him ultimately guarantees that she will occupy the traditional (i.e. comforting) female subject position. — page 203

That passage above was analyzing Urusei Yatsura, an anime from the 80’s. Replace Lum with Himari and replace Lum’s electrifying shocks with Himari as an allergen. You’ll see that not much has changed. What has changed? Himari is even more subservient than her 80’s counterpart.

So Shizuku sees Yuto’s generic good-heartedness. What’s the first thing she does? She cooks.

Belldandy’s exquisite cooking is constantly commented on by the other characters while Yota at one point states simply that “The shape of a girl who’s cooking is really good.” Even Urusei Yatsura, which defamiliarizes the normal more than any of the other series, still contains many images of Ataru’s mother cooking while anarchy breaks out all around her (although Lum herself is a terrible cook). The underlying message seems to be that even in a frighteningly changeable world, women cooking suggests a fundamentally stable social order.

Shizuku wanted to kill him just a few minutes ago. She suddenly warms up to him and cooks. What does this end up doing? It makes the other girls jealous and they too want to cook for the loser.

So what’s the conclusion?

The romantic genre thus acts out the implicit anxieties of the male viewer by presenting some confusion and uncertainty only to show at the end that the established social order of a dominant male and a submissive, devoted woman still prevails. — page 211

Ladies vs. Butler 03

Two words: loli fanservice. But do you really want to know what the sad thing is? Ladies vs. Butlers even manages to fail at this because Dance in the Vampire Bund has already beaten it to the punch.

Do you remember the movie Big? It was about a 13 year old boy who wished he was big. He woke up one day and voila! — he’s in the body of a 30 year old man. We then follow his adventures and struggles through adulthood. Somehow, he had everyone (i.e. his boss, his co-workers, his girlfriend, etc.) fooled thanks to Hollywood contrivances. There was only one problem: he couldn’t fool himself nor the audience. Let’s face it… even if he said was 30, he was still a kid. His physical age didn’t mean a damn thing. He still acted like a kid and had the emotional maturity of a kid.

Mimina doesn’t even have the body of a 19 year old woman, and even if she did, it wouldn’t mean a damn thing. She still acts like a kid and has the emotional maturity of a kid.

She constantly trips when she’s just trying to walk as if she is unable to control her own body. After one particular fall, Akiharu has to tape up her ankle as if she somehow managed to sprain it. Seriously? She constantly pouts, puffing her cheeks up like a petulant child. She has to be carried around everywhere, even riding on Akiharu’s back like a little daughter:

She also needs Akiharu to defend her from others. The anime even acknowledges that she’s just a child:

If you don’t think she’s a child, you’re just harping on some meaningless technicality (“she’s 19!!”). It’s what’s up in the head that’s important. I don’t give a shit if she’s flat-chested or short. I really don’t so let’s get that part straight. Lots of women over 18 are flat-chested and physically un-endowed. Lots of Asian girls are diminutive in build. If you prefer women with no breasts, hey, that’s your cup of tea. Mimina isn’t just young in stature though; she’s young where it counts: mentally. The issue we have here is one of mental maturity and she’s not fucking 19 in that department, I assure you.

Plus, I just really hate the animation in this show. I’m not really talking about poor animation, although it has plenty of that:

It’s more the aesthetic choices that bother me. Like how you can barely see anyone’s nose when they’re not in profile. Or this:

I know her cheeks are supposed to be really rosy though I don’t really know why — is she drunk? is it cold? I also know that her cheeks are supposed to be really shiny though I don’t really know why either other than the fact that anime loves shiny characters. The problem is that it doesn’t look shiny in Ladies vs. Butlers; it looks like a big, fat pimple and every girl has two, one on each cheek.

Whatever. I can’t stomach another Chu-Bra!! episode after all this so we’ll just stop here. Worst anime this week: Ladies vs. Butler! again.

For once, just once, I want to see a main character of a harem show actually hate someone, (who they don’t consider a rival or didn’t kill their father, etc.) I also want to see a main character who is completely unfazed or almost angry at the random perverted things that always happen. That’d be great, honestly. Someone who actually doesn’t blush at all of that crap and act all stupid about it. It can’t be impossible to have an actual different harem lead, right?

…

Also, please don’t let LvB twist you in a knot, and I mean that for anyone who reads this. It knows its audience very well. It’s just a fetish sellout. Nothing different will happen in this and a guarantee that. Nothing that hasn’t been done before. Same ecchi, same characters, same fetishes, and same events.

For once, just once, I want to see a main character of a harem show actually hate someone, (who they don’t consider a rival or didn’t kill their father, etc.)

Hate’s a little strong and I think that’s just out of character for Japan. If you want someone who isn’t super nice, well I guess that explains why Kyon/Yuuchi are popular.

I also want to see a main character who is completely unfazed or almost angry at the random perverted things that always happen. That’d be great, honestly. Someone who actually doesn’t blush at all of that crap and act all stupid about it. It can’t be impossible to have an actual different harem lead, right?

To me, it doesn’t matter. They’re in a harem either way which is a fundamentally flawed concept anyhow.

Well since I tend to think too much about things, my brain needs to start trying to make sense of things. In LvB, I was trying to go through every possible outcome and see if I was right, down to every line they would say. I was mostly right in the situation category. That’s sort of what I mean by twisting in a knot. Trying to think that much in that kind of show is pretty hard…

I follow it, but it’s not really exciting to me so far. Fin likes it a lot but has been too busy to write. :I

What would I recommend? Eh. If you liked Nodame, the sequel has been decent. At the moment, there are only shows with potential in my opinion. I’d say Durarara, Sora no Woto and Ookami have potential but I wouldn’t say they are great yet.

I have been enjoying Ookami Kakushi in part because it has been subverting the harem trope so effectively. The cheesecake factor on the third episode was a bit much though – did there really have to be so many shots of the girls asses and crotches?